1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system, an order-receiving server, an order-receiving system, an order-receiving method, an order-sending method, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are patterns of supplying printing media, such as printing paper and films for printing, to discrete printers or to various kinds of printing systems comprising a printer and a computer connected to the printer, such as an inkjet printer, an inkjet printer and a computer connected thereto, a laser-beam printer, and a laser-beam printer and a computer connected thereto: a supplying pattern using, for example, cut sheets having previously been cut into predetermined sizes; and, a supplying pattern using printing-media units such as roll-paper units comprising a core and roll paper, such as printing paper, wound around the outer periphery of the core.
Here, the above-mentioned roll paper has different aspects from cut sheets etc. This is that the specifications etc. of the roll paper expected by a user largely differ according to, for example, the user's purpose of usage or the object of usage of the roll paper. For example, in the case of printing a drop curtain having a length of several meters, there is a need to use a considerably long roll paper having a length corresponding to the length of the drop curtain multiplied by the number of printed sets. Further, in order to avoid spoiling of appearance caused by unwanted margins or blanks formed on the printed matter, there is a need to use roll paper having a width suitable with the width of the print image. Furthermore, in the case of printing, for example, posters or postcards, even if plain paper is to be used for test printing, there is a need to use, for example, exclusive-use glossy paper upon printing a finished product, when attaching importance to printing quality. Therefore, the user will buy and use various kinds of roll paper according to the object of usage etc.
On the other hand, as a result of recent development in Internet-related technology etc., there have appeared many product-purchasing patterns, different from a pattern of making a purchase at shops such as retailers, in which accessing is made from a computer provided at home, in office etc. to, for example, a homepage of a product supplier through the Internet and products are purchased through the homepage.
As explained above, since the roll-paper specifications etc. expected by the user largely differ according to the roll-paper usage etc., in case the user is to order roll paper, there is a need to designate in detail the specifications etc. of the roll paper. Further, in order to make the designation in the above-mentioned Internet-involving product-purchasing pattern, the user will have to make a one-by-one selection, from a browser provided in the computer, in view of a plurality of kinds of options provided respectively for the specifications etc. for a plurality of kinds of roll paper, in accordance with the specifications etc. that he/she is expecting. The roll paper to be ordered is determined in this way. When considering the user's convenience, this kind of complicated operation should be avoided wherever possible. In order to do so, improvement in the user interface, such as product-ordering display screen, is expected.
However, if many options are provided in order to broaden the variation of products, there will arise a problem in that the user will have trouble in finding the appropriate option suiting the specifications etc. he/she is expecting.
Further, even in the case of making a new order so as to continuously use roll paper having the same specifications etc. as those of the roll paper currently in use, it will be necessary to make a selection for each of the plurality of kinds of options respectively provided for the specifications etc. for a plurality of kinds of roll paper. This will be inconvenient for the user.